My class is reaching it’s crescendo, which is ultimately my Expert Blog Entry. I’m starting to feel it, a little bit of pressure. It’s not overwhelming or anything, but it’s there. The thoughts of is my blog going to be good enough? Am I going to get my A? Am I going to crash and burn with the blog entry and suffer the heartache of my 4.0 GPA going down the drain like so many of my other hopes and dreams of the past? I have to pause and remind myself that I have similar thoughts toward the end of every class, and if I am going to achieve my ultimate goal of graduating with a 4.0 GPA I have to accept the fact that I’m going to feel this exact same anxiety toward the end of every class I take. And, I’ll always be breathing that sign of relief once I see that coveted A posted in Uaccess. It’s a roller coaster ride that I’ll be on until I walk across the stage at commencement, I guess. If I can achieve this lofty goal, the roller coaster ride will all be worth it. And, just like with a real roller coaster ride, maybe I’ll even throw up a few times as a result of riding it.
But, hey, it’s not all bad. My blog entry seems built on a solid foundation. In my planning and even drawing up my outline, I’ve already (SLO 1A) analyzed my genre and decided how that’s going to influence how I write it and put the whole thing together. And, though I haven’t done it quite yet, by the time my blog is put together I’ll have already integrated evidence through methods such as summaries, paraphrases, quotations, and visuals. (SLO 2A). Tying in to this it’ll also follow contextually appropriate conventions for language use relating to grammar, punctuation, and spelling (SLO 3A). Yes, much of this paragraph was copied from my class’ syllabus. But, hey, it’s exactly what I plan to do (or already have done) so I think it’s okay to borrow a little wording from that document. Hope my professor doesn’t mind.
Building up to the blog entry, I had the opportunity to engage in some peer review. (SLO 4C and SLO 4D) I walked into this exercise with a bit of anxiety, as well. I’ve done peer review before. Last summer, I took English 201 (Creative Non-Fiction. Yes, you read that right…but I didn’t name it). We had the opportunity to do peer review in that class. The peers I reviewed in that class all turned in work that was good, or just downright excellent. But, what if I wasn’t as fortunate in this class? How do I give honest, constructive feedback without discouraging the author or make them feel as if I’m shitting all over them? To my relief, this wasn’t an issue.
This time around, I had three blog outlines to critique, as well as a self-review of my own. As it turns out, mine was the worst of the four. I was rather impressed with the outlines my randomly-assigned classmates came up with. If I have any huge problem with any of their entries, it’s that they’re making mine look weaker by comparison.
Another really cool thing I’ve learned in the class since my last entry is how to use the University of Arizona Libraries Website. (SLO 2C and perhaps 2E) About two or three weeks ago at this time, I barely even knew it existed. Our professor had us go through a guided tutorial which I got a lot out of. I had no idea the site was so robust or offered so much. I was blown away. This is a site I’ve saved to my favorites toolbar in my beloved Firefox browser (yes, I’m a Firefox guy!). I’m certain I’ll be using this quite often throughout the remainder of my University experience.
The primary parameter of entering these reflective blog entries is to point out what we’ve learned, our Student Learning Outcomes. Forgive me for recycling from my last entry, but since I’ve made it I’ve had a few more opportunities to practice with citations, (SLO 3B, and maybe even SLO 3E) feel somewhat more comfortable with citations, and thereby reducing my hostility toward King Charles III. Perhaps my anxiety (wow, I’m using that “anxiety” word a lot this entry. I need to calm down) with citations is looking forward to what I hope will be my time in law school. I know it’s a future replete with reading, writing, and citing. I’d like to go into that phase of my education hitting the ground running and being able to cite sources as easy as I breathe, but I’m not quite there yet. I know I’ll get there with more and more practice. I’ll be taking what I learned from this class, I’ll keep exercising my citation muscles so they don’t get weak, and I’ll keep getting better and better at it. Go, me!
